Max Verstappen claimed his third successive pole position at Suzuka as he led a Red Bull 1-2 for Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix, edging out team-mate Sergio Perez.
The reigning champion was fastest in all three qualifying sessions as he charged to a fourth consecutive pole of 2024, with Perez trailing 0.066s behind the Dutchman.
With weather limiting running in FP2 on Friday afternoon, the pecking order picture was drawn up in FP1 and FP3, where the Red Bulls claimed a one-two in each session.
The Dutchman, the victor in the last two Japanese GPs, went into qualifying with a 0.269-second margin in his pocket over team-mate Perez at the end of final practice.
Following the initial runs in Q1, that gap had grown to 0.437s, with Australia winner Carlos Sainz two-tenths further back in third until Oscar Piastri pipped the Spaniard.
However, the important action was down towards the bottom end of the order, with drivers duked it out to avoid a premature elimination at the iconic figure-of-eight track.
But while Fernando Alonso had split the Red Bulls at the top, his Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll led the Q1 dropouts as improvements saw him tumble to 16th place.
The Canadian exited along with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who endured a fourth straight Q1 exit, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Williams’ Logan Sargeant and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.
Still, margins were tight with 1.277s covering the field in the first stage, heading into a Q2 session where Red Bull rose to the top from the outset to book their place in Q3.
Lando Norris was the sole non-Red Bull driver to post a time in the 1:28s bracket as the usual suspects from the top five teams looked to advance to the pole shootout.
But with Stroll’s shock Q1 elimination, there was room for an outlier in the pack as Valtteri Bottas in the standalone Sauber C44 car was on the precipice in 10th position.
Bottas would be shuffled down the order, though, as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda sneaked into Q3 at the expense of his RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who came up 0.055s adrift.
Nevertheless, it ensured the Australian secured his best starting spot of 2024 to date, with Nico Hulkenberg, Bottas, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon to line up behind him.
A late mover in Q2 was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who improved to third with his second run, 0.147s behind Verstappen to stake his claim for the second row of the grid.
However, Hamilton’s opening tour in Q3 wouldn’t place him in the conversation for pole as Verstappen went 0.526s clear, with Norris managing to split the Red Bull drivers.
Meanwhile, Leclerc had required an extra set of rubber to progress to Q1, meaning that he was restricted to a single run in the final segment compared to his competitors.
A troublesome first and final sector marred a purple sector two for the Ferrari man and his sole Q3 run landed him a provisional seventh on the grid, which became eighth.
But at the top of the order, there were no such troubles for Verstappen as the reigning champion improved to a 1:28.197s to retain his flawless one-lap record this season.
Perez banished the demons that he endured at the track last September to come within six-hundredths of usurping his team-mate, bagging a first row in almost 12 months.
Norris is well-poised to add to his podium from Melbourne a fortnight ago as he fronted a tight pack behind the Red Bull drivers, which saw three-tenths cover third to eighth.
Sainz will share the second row with his ex-McLaren team-mate as the lead Ferrari man, with Alonso impressing in the upgraded AMR24 to claim fifth ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Hamilton was unable to recreate his Q2 form and ultimately wound up in seventh, bumping Leclerc, who was confused with his one-lap struggles, down one place to eighth.
George Russell rued an error in the middle sector seeing him lose out to his Mercedes team-mate, with home hero Tsunoda bringing up the rear of the top 10, 1.216s down.
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